Alex Gallafent

Alex Gallafent

Alex Gallafent is the New York-based correspondent for The World. His reporting has taken him to Swaziland, Turkey, Chile, and India, among other places.

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London 2012: When the Party’s Over

August 9, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment
Jubilee party winding down in June. (Photo: AJ Yakstrangler/Flickr)

Jubilee party winding down in June. (Photo: AJ Yakstrangler/Flickr)

This summer Britons have feasted on national celebrations including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and London’s Olympic Games.

When the Paralympic Games conclude in a few weeks, Britain will have to get back to reality. And that might not be easy.

The World’s Alex Gallafent reports.

Listen to an extended interview with British satirist Hugh Dennis below.

Discussion

2 comments for “London 2012: When the Party’s Over”

  • AndyCarmichael

    If, as this piece says, you’ll never find Brits shouting ‘UK, UK, UK!’, how do you explain that every weekend hundreds of thousands of those same Brits unashamedly shout the name of their football team in the English Premier League, the richest, most fanatically followed league in the world? I’m not saying the reserved national character has totally disappeared, but it’s such a boring journalistic device to fall back on every time we Brits behave in a way that doesn’t fit your Masterpiece Theatre stereotype.     

  • http://profiles.google.com/gallafent Alex Gallafent

    Andy, I’m sorry you found the analysis boring, but I am convinced that there’s a difference between the kind of support displayed by tribal soccer fans in the Premier League and the all-encompassing national pride captured in the United States by the common chant ‘USA! USA USA!’ (which, by the way, can be heard in settings as diverse as baseball parks and state houses.) You’ll find people in the UK shouting for West Ham; for England, too. But for the UK, or for Great Britain? Not often. In any case, the final thought of the piece argues that the ‘reserved national character’ (a hackneyed phrase which, I should add, I don’t use) is something of a lie anyway: Brits know that they’re successful on the world stage; they just don’t want people to know that they know. By the way, I’m British too. At least we can agree on the superiority of cricket.